NetSurf for AGA

[andyhants]

Hi all

Hope someone can please help. I have downloaded the NetSurfAGA Beta from the Zone and am trying to install it but not getting very far. It seems the Beta is a WINRaR archive as this is the only utility that recognises it.

So I've unRAR'ed it in Windows and copied to an AMiKit directory. All I get is a single file 'NetsurfAGA' of 517348 bytes in size. When I try to run it (clicking it in DOpus, not giving any arguments) it brings up a Shell Window but then just goes stright back to the Shell prompt with nothing happening.

Can someone please help me to explain what I have to do to install the Beta? BTW I'm running under AmiKit 1.6.6 in WINUAE if that helps.

Also as a related question the reason I'm trying the Beta is although I really want to try to use an Amiga based browser the only one that seems to work anywhere near as seamlessly as a Windows Broswer like IE is the current NetSurf distributed with AmiKit but even then it seems to have serious limitations. Any pulldown windows in websites are inaccessible and I also can't seem to be able to configure NetSurf at all. It also seems to want rename anything I try to download. Is this normal? At the moment I am reluctantly coming to the conclusion that browsing in the native Amiga environment is too much of a pain and I might as well 'cheat' and just use IE to download direct into my AmiKit directories. I would much prefer to stay in the Amiga environment if I can just get a sensible browsing experience that allows me to do simple things like use pulldown windows and download things simply / reliably.

Many thanks to anyone who can help with my requests above.

Andy

[prowler]

Originally Posted by andyhants

Hi all

Hope someone can please help. I have downloaded the NetSurfAGA Beta from the Zone and am trying to install it but not getting very far. It seems the Beta is a WINRaR archive as this is the only utility that recognises it.

So I've unRAR'ed it in Windows and copied to an AMiKit directory. All I get is a single file 'NetsurfAGA' of 517348 bytes in size. When I try to run it (clicking it in DOpus, not giving any arguments) it brings up a Shell Window but then just goes stright back to the Shell prompt with nothing happening.

Can someone please help me to explain what I have to do to install the Beta? BTW I'm running under AmiKit 1.6.6 in WINUAE if that helps.

Hi Andy,

The NetSurfAGA Beta in The Zone Is a 7ZIP archive, which as you have seen will extract using WinRAR.

The NetsurfAGA file inside the archive is an Amiga executable file comprising the installer.

Because you have extracted the file with WinRAR, the file's special Amiga attributes, or "protection bits" will not have been preserved, so will need to be restored to be able to run the program properly.

When you have completed the transfer of the program file to your Amiga, open a shell (CLI), navigate to the directory where you copied the NetsurfAGA file and type:
PROTECT NetsurfAGA +rwed

This will restore the readable, writable, executable and deletable protections bits (the defauklt attributes for an executable file), and you should now be able to install the application.

[NovaCoder]

Hiya Andy,

Web browsing is not a great experience on Classics I'm afraid, even NG Amiga platforms struggle in this area.

[andyhants]

ok thanks I'll give that a try. Looking ahead if as you say it is better to use say IE t odownlaod demos is it then standard pactice to do this - Ie download using Windows then do the PROTECT ... +rwed thing?

So in otherwords am I being stupid in thinking I can downloads of Demos & Mods (for example) in a native Amig enviornemnt and I should just go with IT as that is what everyone does? Poeut seems a really good site to standardise on for new Amiga demos / mods but is it the case that pretty much everyone uses a Windows browser to downlaod firstly?

I don't want to keep hassling everyone with my 'noob' type questions but it seems to me there must be a simpler way of reliably downlaoding demoes etc for the Amiga?

Thanks again

Andy

[prowler]

Originally Posted by andyhants

ok thanks I'll give that a try. Looking ahead if as you say it is better to use say IE t odownlaod demos is it then standard pactice to do this - Ie download using Windows then do the PROTECT ... +rwed thing?

So in otherwords am I being stupid in thinking I can downloads of Demos & Mods (for example) in a native Amig enviornemnt and I should just go with IT as that is what everyone does? Poeut seems a really good site to standardise on for new Amiga demos / mods but is it the case that pretty much everyone uses a Windows browser to downlaod firstly?

I don't want to keep hassling everyone with my 'noob' type questions but it seems to me there must be a simpler way of reliably downlaoding demoes etc for the Amiga?

Thanks again

Andy

Of course you can download Amiga files using a Windows browser or FTP client.

A lot of the time, if you are seeking demos, for example, or other floppy-based programs such as games, the file will be a disk image (.ADF, .DMS, .WRP, .ADZ, etc.), which you can use in emulation or write the image to a floppy disk for use with your Amiga.

Also, sometimes it will be an Amiga-based archive (.LZX, LHA, etc), which you can extract on your Amiga or in emulation using the appropriate dearchiving tool so that the attributes will be preserved.

Incidentally, there is a command-line version of the 7ZIP archiver for the Amiga which you could have used to extract the NetsurfAGA archive on your Amiga, but the attributes would only be preserved if the archive had originally been produced in an Amiga environment, and there is no guarantee of that with files having a 7ZIP extension which are far more commonly produced using a PC.

[arti040]

@arti
I did ask you already about this on Google+ or somewhere else, don't remember, but what about porting NetSurf to PPC/WarpOS? I know there are far less PPC cards than 040/060 and someone can find it as a waste of time, but if some of us have them anyway, it'd great to make a use of PowerPC, huh?

[utri007]

New version of Netsurf offers signifigant speed up to donwload/render web pages. Now it is fast like it used to be. even with a java script support

[andyhants]

Hi again Utri / all

Is there a further update to the NetSurfAGA Beta beyond the version currently on The Zone that you are referring to that offers the quicker rendering etc? If so please can someone point me to the relevant website? Actually I would appreciate this in any case as I can't seem to find it anywhere.

Many thanks

Andy

[utri007]

There is, but is not for 68k amigas. Current 68k version is based to framebuffer version, wich is meant to be use with debugging and non gui systems.

Nobody experienced enough hasn't been interested to OS3.x version

People, please stop wasting your time on this! You are writing optimisations for a frontend that is intended for debugging and systems without proper GUIs!

With the amount of effort expended on this over the years, you could have easily written a new OS3 specific frontend, with more features, the system's limitations in mind and without the overhead of SDL.

If you want to continue this futile pursuit then go ahead - it makes no difference to me. But, for the good of the "classic" Amiga community and on behalf the the NetSurf developers, I implore you to stop and consider what you are doing.

As I see it there are three options:
1. Back-port my frontend so it works on OS3. See here.
2. Write a new frontend from scratch.
3. Continue with the SDL frontend and ignore me.

There are a couple of excellent blog posts by Vince (one of the devs) which detail a bit more about the build process and how the directory structure is set up:
http://vincentsanders.blogspot.co.uk...s-to-quit.html
http://vincentsanders.blogspot.co.uk...ns-unless.html

You've proved that the thing builds and works on OS3, now ditch the Framebuffer/SDL frontend, as the only way to improve it is to get rid of it. Even a basic window with some buttons in it will be an improvement, trust me!

I know some of you are already aware of my thoughts, but there are people in this thread who may not be, and others who think the browser is SDL only (it's not - look at the website and the screenshots). I ask all of you to consider whether you are spending your time on the correct task!

[NovaCoder]

This has come up a few times now.

Yes NetSurf AGA (currently) uses the SDL, and no, this is not ideal. Unfortunately compiling a native (non-SDL) version of NetSurf 68k is extremely difficult (I'm speaking from personal experience here).

[utri007]

So I belive that help could be usefull? Anyone interested to help novacoder and others?

http://eab.abime.net/showthread.php?t=70964

Chris maker of OS4 version has made some work to keep OS3.x version possible

http://wiki.netsurf-browser.org/Todo...nd#OS3_Support
http://www.amiga.org/forums/showthre...=56813&page=11

Maybe Novacoder could tell what is excatly problem to compile is directory strugture build right?

And please no nonsens about other browsers, Netsurf is only possible semi modern browser for real 68k amigas.

[ancalimon]

This is the first time I'm trying this on my 1200 060-50.

It's very slow.. But it works and that's the important thing.

Now have to figure out how to set the charset to 8859-9 and language to Turkish.

There is problem with passwords though. I can't make any site accept my passwords. I guess it could be related with the Turkish characters...

[jack-3d]

Just connected with Amiga on the internet after 10 years. Currently surfing with IBrowse, because Netsurf (latest from Aminet) does not start. It just show empty window, takes few megs of ram and disapear and return the ram. What do I miss in my system?

[arti]

If want you want AGA version download it from http://ami-soft.blogspot.com/ .On Aminet there is NS only for RTG.

[jack-3d]

Yes I downloaded RTG because I want RTG ;o)

Anyway thanks fot the LINK, I will watch it now.

[NovaCoder]

Good news

Arti has just managed to get a non-ixemul version of NetSurf AGA running

This new version should be faster and use less memory than the old AGA build.

http://ami-soft.blogspot.com.au/

Well done Arti

[Leandro Jardim]

Wow, thanks Arti and NovaCoder!

[Retrofan]

Now waiting for a version without FPU

[Schlachtwerk]

Download will not start

[Overmann]

Originally Posted by Retrofan

Now waiting for a version without FPU

Me too! I didn't think I would need an FPU so I got the ACA1232. Allthough I love the ACA I do regret that decision now. I would like to use this browser.